The Duchess of Cambridge visited Clapham Common this afternoon to join mourners laying flowers in tribute to Sarah Everard.
The unexpected visit came after a planned vigil was cancelled, with organisers citing the Met Police’s ‘lack of constructive engagement’ to help make it Covid secure.
Kensington Palace said Kate Middleton, who was not wearing a face covering, ‘remembers what it was like to walk around London at night before she was married’ and ‘wanted to pay her respects to the family and to Sarah’, reported Sky.
Hundreds of mourners, estimated at around 1,500, defied lockdown rules to gather tonight to lay tributes at a grandstand in Clapham Common – where Sarah was last seen alive before her disappearance.
A number of police officers moved in on the bandstand to block access for speakers as the crowd started chanting ‘arrest your own’ and ‘shame on you’ this evening.
Footage posted to social media showed a tussle between Metropolitan Police officers and some of the crowd as some shouted ‘you are scum’ following the brief clash. One woman screamed ‘you’re supposed to protect us’.
Some mourners broke down in tears as they paid their respects to the 33-year-old marketing manager who disappeared on her way home from visiting a friend on March 3.
An unnamed anti-lockdown protester had to be escorted away by police officers after he stood on the bandstand to rant about not being able to see his friends. He was met with a chorus of shouts as one woman screamed ‘this isn’t about you’ and another added ‘this woman has died’.
A Reclaim These Streets event was due to be held tonight at the bandstand on Clapham Common, near where Ms Everard went missing, but organisers yesterday failed to secure a High Court ruling that lockdown – which bans gatherings – should not stop their right to protest.
Despite urging people to conduct a vigil at their doorstep with a candle, hundreds of people arrived at Clapham Common this evening and similar gatherings have been held in Bournemouth, Leeds, Cambridge and Bristol.
Kensington Palace said Kate (pictured) ‘wanted to pay her respects to the family and to Sarah’, reported Sky . ‘She remembers what is was like to walk around London at night before she was married,’ the palace added
The unexpected visit came after a planned vigil was cancelled, with organisers citing the Met Police’s ‘lack of constructive engagement’ to help make it Covid secure
Dozens of floral tributes have been left on Clapham Common as mourners have gathered to pay their respects where Sarah Everard was last seen before her disappearance on March 3
Hundreds of mourners defied social distancing to gather at Clapham Common on Saturday night
A woman was arrested by a police officer in Clapham Common this evening as police tried to break it up
A woman was pinned to the ground as she was handcuffed by officers in Clapham Common on Saturday evening
Fights broke out as people battled against police officers on Saturday evening in Clapham Junction
Women shouted at police as they gathered near the bandstand in Clapham Common this evening
Police officers blocked people from accessing the bandstand as those in the crowd held up candles
Police attempt to break up a vigil for Ms Everard at the bandstand on Clapham Common
The bandstand was surrounded by flowers laid three-foot deep as people gathered for a vigil
The vigil was planned for Saturday in memory of marketing executive Sarah Everard, who disappeared while walking home to Brixton on March 3
Yesterday Scotland Yard confirmed human remains found in Kent belonged to marketing executive Ms Everard.
Serving police officer Wayne Couzens, 48, was remanded in custody after appearing in Westminster Magistrates’ court today charged with kidnap and murder.
‘This isn’t about you’: Anti-lockdown protester interrupts Sarah Everard vigil to complain about not being allowed to meet up with his friends
An anti-lockdown protester interrupted a vigil for Sarah Everard in London this evening.
The unknown man stood on a bandstand surrounded by hundreds of bouquets of flowers and other tributes left for the marketing executive.
He shouted: ‘We should be free to move, to visit friends, to be on the streets.’ The rest of his words were drowned out by the crowd.
The unknown man (pictured) stood on a bandstand surrounded by hundreds of bouquets of flowers and other tributes
He was met with a chorus of shouting as mourners told him: ‘This isn’t about you’.
One woman screamed: ‘A woman has died.’
Others told him to shut up, with one man adding ‘it’s about women you idiot’ before batting away another man’s hand as they tried to calm him down.
Photographs show the moment the man was escorted away from the vigil by a number of police officers.
Today the court heard Miss Everard’s body was found inside a builder’s bag and identified through the use of dental records.
Campaign group Sisters Uncut, which had representatives attending the Clapham vigil, tweeted: ‘As soon as the sun went down, police stormed the bandstand. We do NOT answer to violent men.’
The account posted: ‘Stay safe. Know your rights: ‘NO COMMENT’ if cops talk to you. If police ask you to do anything, ask ‘am I legally obliged to?’. if they say yes, ask ‘under what power?”
One video posted online showed Metropolitan Police officers grabbing women stood within the bandstand in Clapham Common before leading them away, to screaming and shouting from onlookers.
Campaign group Sisters Uncut, which had representatives present at the demonstration, tweeted claiming that ‘male police officers waited for the sun to set before they started grabbing and manhandling women in the crowd’.
After the clashes in Clapham, Charlotte Nichols, shadow minister for women and equalities, tweeted: ‘If @metpoliceuk had put the resources into assisting @ReclaimTS to hold the covid-secure vigil originally planned that they put into stopping any collective show of grief and solidarity (both through the courts and a heavy-handed physical response), we’d all be in a better place.’
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer tweeted: ‘Tonight I will light a candle for Sarah Everard. The whole country’s thoughts are with Sarah’s friends and family at this awful time.
‘Violence against women and girls is still far too common. I will do everything I can to help make our streets safe and to end this injustice.’
Streatham MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy tweeted footage of the clashes at Clapham Common. ‘This could have been the socially distanced vigil the community needed to remember Sarah and all the women who have lost their lives to violence. We knew what was going to happen if the event was shut down.
She added: ‘I know Lambeth Borough officers made efforts to compromise with the organisers but were overruled from high up.
‘They’ll be left to deal with the fallout of this and the further burden it places on already strained community relationships. Very disappointing from Scotland Yard.’
Police have said the gathering at Clapham Common is ‘unsafe’, and urged people to go home.
A tweet from the Lambeth police account said: ‘The gathering at £ClaphamCommon is unsafe. Hundreds of people are tightly packed together in breach of the regulations and risking public health.
‘We are urging people to go home and we thank those who have been engaging with officers and who are leaving.’
Meanwhile, Boris Johnson has said he will light a candle for Ms Everard tonight with his fiancee Carrie Symonds. The Prime Minister said he ‘cannot imagine how unbearable’ the pain and grief is for Ms Everard’s family and friends.
He wrote on Twitter: ‘Tonight Carrie and I will be lighting a candle for Sarah Everard and thinking of her family and friends. I cannot imagine how unbearable their pain and grief is. We must work fast to find all the answers to this horrifying crime.
‘I will do everything I can to make sure the streets are safe and ensure women and girls do not face harassment or abuse.’
A woman started to cry as she knelt down to put a bouquet of flowers next to others in Clapham Common
Mourners seen in tears at the memorial site near Clapham Common bandstand this afternoon
People gather at a memorial site in Clapham Common Bandstand, following the kidnap and murder of Sarah Everard
People mourn at a memorial site for Sarah Everard at the Clapham Common Bandstand
Women wore masks as they held up candles to remember Ms Everard in Clapham Junction
Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon was among many to share an image of a candle alight in their homes.
She tweeted: ‘For Sarah, and all the others #ReclaimTheStreets.’
Comedian Sandi Toksvig tonight said ‘this must become a turning point’ as she opened an online vigil to Ms Everard.
Speaking at Feminists of London’s virtual event, the television presenter said it was not a ‘small change’ that was needed, but a ‘cultural shift about how women are viewed and treated both in the public and private space’.
‘This has to be a turning point where ending violence finally becomes a political priority,’ she said.
Ms Toksvig expressed her ‘profound sorrow and rage’.
She said: ‘The truth is of course I don’t want to be here at all, I do not want to attend a vigil for a bright young woman in her early 30s, a woman with her life before her.
‘I do not want to be here talking about the memory of Sarah. I have two daughters about the same age as Sarah. Tomorrow is Mother’s Day. Never have I felt more passionately concerned about my kids.
‘It surely cannot be asking too much to want them simply to be free, to walk where they like, when they like.
‘I am filled in equal measure with profound sorrow and rage, and I know there are many who share this rage and I think it is entirely justifiable. But I also know that it will harm rather than help us if we don’t try and direct that anger to good purpose.’
She added: ‘Tonight we reflect that when the vigil is over, the work begins.’
Police had previously warned that each vigil organiser faced a £10,000 fine if events went ahead, the group claimed, adding it did not want to be forced to give money to ‘a system that consistently fails to keep women safe’.
This morning a statement said: ‘We have been very disappointed that given the many opportunities to engage with the organisers constructively, the Metropolitan Police have been unable to commit to anything.’
Bristol: People gather on College Green after the Reclaim These Streets vigil for Ms Everard was officially cancelled
Bristol: Mounted police watched over a vigil on the College Green this evening
Cambridge: On King’s Parade street in Cambridge people attended a vigil for Sarah Everard
Cambridge: Dozens of people gathered with placards on Kind’s Parade street after Ms Everard’s death
Cambridge: A woman used white chalk to write ‘Reclaim These Streets’ on a pavement in King’s Parade
Cambridge: Women held signs with the hashtag ‘Reclaim These Streets’ on King’s Parade
Cambridge: People marched along the street in King’s Parade after an official vigil was cancelled
Cambridge: Women lined a road in Cambridge and held up signs as they held a vigil for Ms Everard
Bournemouth: People gather in Bournemouth after the Reclaim These Streets vigil for Sarah Everard was cancelled
Bournemouth: Three women light candles in Bournemouth after the Reclaim These Streets vigil
Leeds: Candles and flowers were left on the steps of the Parkinson Building at the University of Leeds in West Yorkshire
Leeds: Mourners left their tributes including a sign reading ‘we are all Sarah’ at the University of Leeds
The organisation is now urging people to take part in a doorstep vigil tonight at 9.30pm.
The group has asked people to ‘shine a light – a candle, a torch, a phone – to remember Sarah Everard and all the women affected by and lost to violence’.
Labour MP for Streatham Bell Ribeiro-Addy tweeted: ‘On today’s walk, I laid flowers at Clapham Common bandstand in memory of Sarah Everard and all the women lost to violence.
‘Hundreds of people came to show their solidarity and I can see hundreds more on my way home. The Police’s decision to cancel the vigil makes no sense.’
Commander Catherine Roper, the Met’s lead for community engagement responded that officers had held a number of ‘challenging talks’ with the vigil organisers.
She added: ‘While we understand their frustrations of this cancellation and share the nation’s outrage at this crime, we must all continue to work together to fight Covid-19 and keep each other safe.’
Calling off the event, Reclaim These Streets said it would aim to fundraise £320,000 for women’s causes, equal to £10,000 for every proposed fine for the 32 vigils.
More than £50,000 was raised in the first three hours of the Just Giving page going live and it has now reached half its target.
A virtual vigil is also being coordinated, while a decision on similar events outside of London, that fall under different police forces, will be made later.
Organisers said they had made ‘every effort’ to pull off the vigil to ‘balance our right as women to freedom of expression’ with the current Covid curbs.
The group brought an urgent action in a bid for a declaration that any ban on outdoor gatherings under coronavirus regulations is ‘subject to the right to protest’, and thus the vigil should be allowed to happen.
Mr Justice Holgate declined to grant the group’s request and also refused to make a declaration that an alleged policy by the force of ‘prohibiting all protests, irrespective of the specific circumstances’ is unlawful.
Reclaim These Streets resolved to continue discussions with the Met, which ordered people not to gather but ‘to find a safe alternative way to express their views’.
Groups of people stood in vigil for Sarah Everard at locations around the UK, including Glasgow, Bristol and Nottingham.
In Bristol, a female police officer asked one member of the crowd to leave the vigil, saying she risks her life to be out dispersing crowds in a pandemic.
A woman could be heard shouting back: ‘You risk your life every night, love.’
Caitlin Prowle, one of the Reclaim These Streets organisers, said they did not want to end up in a situation where they were having to raise funds to pay fines.
She said: ‘The police’s lack of co-operation and unwillingness to engage with us to find a compromise means that we can’t go forward in good faith.
‘We can’t put our supporters at risk, quite frankly we can’t put ourselves at risk in that way, and so really they’ve left us with no other option.’
Flowers were first laid this morning and continued to be placed throughout the day, with some women saying they would be attending this evening despite the cancellation.
Reclaim These Streets added: ‘We were told that pressing ahead could risk a £10,000 fine each for each woman organising.’
While confident they could raise the money to foot the cost of fines, the organisation said it would be a ‘poor use’ of funds.’We do not want to see hundreds of thousands of pounds contributed to a system that consistently fails to keep women safe,’ they said.
MPs also expressed regret at the decision and called for laws on freedom of assembly during the pandemic to be clarified.
Mourners held candles as they paid tribute to Ms Everard in Clapham Common tonight
Hundreds of well-wishers make their way towards the bandstand in Clapham Common
A sketch of Wayne Couzens, 48, a firearms officer from Scotland Yard’s elite Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command, appearing in court this morning
Mandu Reid, the leader of the Women’s Equality Party, has said violence against women and girls is ‘akin to a form of domestic terrorism’.
Speaking at Feminists of London’s virtual vigil, she said: ‘The pain and poignancy of this moment lies in the devastating fact that all women and every girl lives under the perpetual threat that what happened to Sarah could happen to any one of us.
‘The reality for women and girls is that the harassment we experience, which is as omnipresent as the air we breathe, could escalate at any time.’
She continued: ‘I am done with empty platitudes from political leaders from across the spectrum who treat male violence like a tragic but inevitable force of nature, as if they haven’t spent years slashing budgets to prevention programmes and support services.’
Ms Reid added: ‘Piecemeal measures and individual actions do matter and do make a difference but let’s be real, they won’t turn the tide on this.
‘The way to truly honour Sarah and every other woman we’ve lost is to demand that politicians of all stripes treat violence against women and girls as a political and policing priority.’
Home Secretary Priti Patel said that almost 20,000 people had responded in 24 hours to a consultation on how the Government could tackle violence against women and girls.
‘That is completely unprecedented & we will carefully consider responses,’ she tweeted.
Ms Patel added that she would be ‘lighting a candle tonight in Sarah’s memory’.
Labour MP Stella Creasy shared an image of women dressed in red cloaks and bonnets, inspired by Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale.
‘Tonight women in Walthamstow made their feelings about the failure to tackle violence against women clear,’ she tweeted.
Wales’ First Minister Mark Drakeford tweeted: ‘Sarah Everard was walking home. Her murder – and the stories from other women this week about their experiences – tell us why we have so much more to do to end violence and abuse against women. As candles are lit tonight, let us ignite a fire for change.’
Emotions were high at the bandstand as people paid tribute to Sarah Everard
Women across the UK have been devastated this week following Sarah Everard’s death. Pictured, mourners in Clapham
A sign reading ‘end violence against women’ was left at the bandstand in Clapham Common among hundreds of flowers
Women wore face masks as they supported each other during a gathering in Clapham Common
Placards left at the memorial read ‘text me when you’re home’ and ‘when will women be safe’
Police officers spoke to those gathering in Clapham Common this afternoon
As the sun began to go down hundreds of people gathered to pay their respects to Ms Everard
Flowers are left in between the railings at the bandstand in Clapham Common
Women comforted each other as they left tributes at the bandstand earlier today
Hundreds of bouquets of flowers have been left around the bandstand as crowds mourned Sarah’s death
Those paying tribute broke down into tears as they laid flowers (right). One person left a placard, left, saying ‘I am Sarah’
Pictured: A photograph of Sarah Everard is left with floral tributes and messages in London
People kept their distance from each other amid coronavirus restrictions as they laid flowers
A steady stream of mourners headed to and from the bandstand in Clapham Common today
Candles, flowers and a stuffed bear were left as people paid tribute to Sarah Everard
More and more people descended on the bandstand as the afternoon continued
A sign reads ‘Men, do better. Protect all women’ is among flowers at the memorial site
People mourn at a memorial site on Clapham Common, following Sarah’s kidnap and murder
There was a strong police presence at the event as dozens of people gathered to lay flowers
Reclaim These Streets is asking people to hold a ‘doorstep vigil’ at 9.30pm this evening and to shine a light in Sarah’s memory
Police officers watch on as people continue to leave flowers and tributes for Sarah Everard at the Bandstand where planned and organised vigil tonight has been cancelled
Senior Conservative MP Caroline Nokes, who had previously said she asked Home Secretary Priti Patel to ‘step in’ and allow the vigil to go ahead, said she hoped people would now take the advice of organisers to gather virtually instead.
She told BBC Breakfast: ‘It is important that women come together. We can do that virtually and recognise the ongoing issue there is with violence against women and girls, perpetrated by men, but do it in a Covid-safe way.’
Labour’s Harriet Harman, who chairs the Joint Committee on Human Rights, said the law on freedom of association amid the coronavirus pandemic should be clarified.
She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘We have said previously that the law on this should be made clearer.
‘The relationship between the Human Rights Act and its protection of freedom of association and the new Covid regulations has not been clearly spelt out.’
Last night, home office minister Victoria Atkins urged people thinking of rallying to stay at home.
The Tory MP said: ‘I would love to go marching in Clapham but we are in the middle of this pandemic and the law is as it is.’
She said she would mark the event at her front door, ‘reclaiming an albeit very small piece of pavement’.
Commander Roper said: ‘I would like to thank the organisers of tonight’s vigil in Clapham Common for cancelling the gathering. Since Sarah’s disappearance, we have shared Londoners anguish, shock and sadness at the truly awful circumstances of her disappearance and death.
‘I know that yesterday’s ruling would have been unwelcome news for the organisers and to those who were hoping to join others in tribute to Sarah and to make a stand on violence against women.
‘While it is clear we cannot do this together on Clapham Common, I know there are various others ways to mourn Sarah in a safe way.
People gathered to bring flowers to Clapham Common after a planned organisation was cancelled
Women paid their respects to Sarah Everard at Clapham Common
Police officers bring floral tributes, left by the public, to the site as Met Police continue their search near Great Chart, Kent
People gathering earlier on Saturday to lay flowers and pay their respects on Clapham Common
Police had warned that each organiser faced a £10k fine if the vigil went ahead, the group claimed after it cancelled the event
One of the dozens of messages and cards left at the memorial site on Clapham Common in tribute to Sarah Everard
Mourners for the life of murdered 33-year-old Sarah Everard, whose remains were found this week in woodland in Kent
Pictured: A message of condolence is seen as mourners for the life of murdered 33-year-old Sarah Everard
Appearing in court today wearing a grey tracksuit and bearing a red mark on his head, Couzens stood as the charges were put to him before being remanded in custody before his case is sent to the Old Bailey on March 16.
Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring said: ‘Mr Couzens, I am sending your case to the crown court sitting at the Central Criminal Court, what you might know as the Old Bailey. You will appear there for your first appearance on the 16th of March.
‘I don’t have the power to consider the question of bail. That will be considered should you wish to make an application to the court on the 16th of March.
‘You are therefore remanded in custody until that date, both charges having been sent to the crown court.’
The father-of-two was yesterday rushed to St George’s Hospital for the second time with fresh head injuries.
He was treated for the second injury he sustained while in custody in 48 hours before being discharged and returned to a police station, the Metropolitan Police said.
Scotland Yard added: ‘The suspect was taken to a hospital for treatment to a head injury sustained while in custody in a cell on Friday, March 12. He was being monitored by officers and received immediate first aid.’
In a statement last night, Rosemary Ainslie, head of special crime at the Crown Prosecution Service, added: ‘Following a referral of evidence by the Metropolitan Police related to the death of Sarah Everard, the CPS has authorised the police to charge Wayne Couzens with murder and kidnapping.’
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick visited search sites in Kent today to thank teams involved in continued searches in relation to the investigation.
A High Court judge last night refused to intervene on behalf of the group in a legal challenge over the right to gather for a protest during coronavirus restrictions
Passersby leave tributes and flowers around the Clapham Common bandstand, where the vigil was planned to take place
Flowers were laid at the bandstand this morning, with some women saying they would still be attending this evening
Police marine unit divers continued their search of ponds in Hoad Wood behind the grounds of the derelict activity centre in Great Chart on Saturday afternoon.
A lone police officer also stood guard outside the home of Couzens in the seaside town of Deal, Kent as forensics teams continued their search there.
Marketing executive Sarah was last seen on a doorbell camera at the junction of Poynders Road and Cavendish Road at 9.30pm on March 3 after crossing through Clapham Common.
On her way home, Miss Everard had spoken to her boyfriend Josh Lowth, 33, on the telephone and arranged to meet the next day. She was reported missing after friends and family were unable to reach her.
Earlier on Friday, Scotland Yard confirmed that human remains found in an area of woodland in Ashford, Kent, two days earlier had been identified as Miss Everard.
The heartbroken family of Miss Everard yesterday paid tribute to the marketing executive, describing her as a ‘shining example to us all’.
Speaking outside Scotland Yard, Mr Ephgrave said Miss Everard’s family had been told this ‘most distressing news’.
He said: ‘As you know, on Wednesday evening detectives investigating the disappearance of Sarah Everard discovered a body secreted in woodland in Kent.
‘The body has now been recovered and formal identification procedure has now been undertaken. I can now confirm that it is the body of Sarah.’
He said his ‘thoughts and prayers, and those of the entire organisation’ remain with Miss Everard’s family ‘at this awful time’.
He added: ‘Specialist officers remain in constant contact with Sarah’s family, and will continue to support them throughout the investigation and beyond.
‘That investigation continues at a pace and we have hundreds of officers working round the clock to establish the full circumstances of Sarah’s disappearance, and her murder.’